I, Corinthius (The Vasterium Saga)

by Shae Christi

  He woke with a violent shock gasping for oxygen to fill his lungs. There, right up close to his face by mere inches, was Belovaya floating in the air. Her deep amethyst eyes now burning coal red with resentment.

  She had her long rangy fingers wrapped around his throat and he could feel her icy bitterness pulsating through him. Her energy felt like ice water seeping in to his veins and freezing everything that made him human. He groaned in agony under her grip.

  "You dared to defy me by running away, Corinthius? How dare you even perceive the thought. I saw you today with that maiden. You give your heart so freely to her and barely look in my direction?"

  Tears began to fill her eyes again and the absent amethyst colours he knew began to flicker through the fiery red of her pupils. Corinthius could not tell if her tears were from hurt or her impending revenge that was poisoning her from the inside out.

  "You think you are too good for me, is that it?"

  Corinthius looked her in the eyes and then he raised his hand and stroked her face even though her energy was almost depleting his own life force. His tender action startled her.

  "Belovaya, I have never thought that. I feel so sorry for you and I mean that with sincere compassion not arrogant mortal pity. You are desperately lonely and your anger and hatred is consuming you. There is no way I can compete with something so powerful and soul destroying. You can never know what real love is because there is no room in your heart for it."

  Belovaya's tears fell and then her anger took over. She threw Corinthius out of the oak tree with such force. The impact of hitting the ground almost broke Corinthius' body and he screamed out in pain.

  "You asked me earlier to kill you. And I couldn't. But, now I know your heart is connected to another it will be an easy thing to manifest. I can never accept you and her together. I forbid it. For your betrayal, I have no problem in granting your request. You're right, Corinthius. My heart and soul is one black, festering hole where there is little room for love. So, in killing you, I will learn to live with it and yet hate what I have done. Torture myself and grow even more darker. Because that is my true nature. It is what I have become. And in some perverse way, I will still own a small part of you. I will own your soul as my own. I can never allow you and her to be together. Never."

  Her physicality seemed to grow larger, taller, more menacing and the look on her face more cruel and terrifying. She brought up her hand to strike the fatal blow of dark magic in to Corinthius' heart when an arrow came out of the dark wood and pierced her abdomen.

  Belovaya faltered and reeled sideways.

  Corinthius was stunned.

  Belovaya was a supernatural elemental dark energy and he couldn't understand how she was reacting to an object from the mortal world in this way. Belovaya tried as she might to pull the arrow out of her body but couldn't.

  "What have you done?," she cried out.

  Corinthius stood dazed by what was happening.

  "I didn't do this, Belovaya," he pleaded. Then a figure stepped out of the wood and was reloading another arrow.

  "It was me. And I swear, if you think you are going to kill Corinthius just to settle a score, well, you had better try and get past me first!," spat Adalheid as she stormed forward aiming her arrow towards Belovaya's head.

  "I don't take too kindly to folks taking things that never belonged to them."

  Her arrow glinted brightly under the soft moonlight. Adalheid saw the perplexed look on Corinthius' face.

  "Its gold. Arcane mountain gold to be precise. The only element that can fell a supernatural being from one hundred yards."

  Belovaya writhed on her knees as the head of the gold arrow felt like scolding hot acid exploding inside her stomach. She then began to dredge up as much energy as she could and used her faltering magic to open a portal to access the Underworld.

  "Not so easy, Belovaya," said Adalheid aiming the gold arrow at her chest. Adalheid could see a glint of fear in Belovaya's eyes which were blurred with tears.

  Adalheid pulled the twine back from her bow and was just about to release when Corinthius stood in front of her.

  "Don't, Adalheid. Please," he pleaded softly.

  "Corinthius? She was about to kill you."

  "Yes, and the only person she was going to hurt was, ultimately, herself. She is forever destroying herself and rebuilding herself back up with hatred and irrational behaviour. Have pity on her."

  Adalheid looked on Corinthius dumbfounded. Belovaya struggled to stand.

  "As you wish, Corinthius," said Adalheid lowering her bow.

  Corinthius smiled at her and he stepped aside for Belovaya to disappear in to her Underworld portal. Belovaya turned and looked at both of them and was about to say something before she decided against it. Once she stepped beyond the shadowy opening the portal disappeared and all that there was to see was the wide empty space of the wild meadow beyond.

  "What made you come back tonight, Adalheid? I thought you were coming back tomorrow. Though I am eternally grateful you showed up when you did," said Corinthius after a long while tilting his head. "Otherwise Belovaya would have turned me in to food for the meadow worms."

  "I couldn't wait. I've got your bow and arrow here for you," she said removing them from her shoulder and handing them over to him."Also, you were going to teach me about the moon and stars and well, look, a full moon. What better time?"

  She smiled and gave him a kiss.

  Corinthius felt deeply grateful for the way fate had intervened. He looked up at the sky and watched the moon suspended in its sea of ink.

  "I have an idea but, we haven't much time," he said. "We have to do this before the sun rises. If we don't hurry the dawn is going to threaten my plan."

  Adalheid followed him as they ran through the forest to the east. Corinthius headed for Belovaya's main Underworld entrance beneath the ancient yew tree in the Berring dells. Once they arrived they both stood and stared for a while before Adalheid looked up at Corinthius.

  "Are you expecting us to go in there together? Because if you are might we do it this second before my fear really takes a grip over me."

  Corinthius smiled at her.

  "That won't be necessary," he said.

  "If you think you are going in there by yourself, think again, Corinthius," said Adalheid as she removed her bow and began scrambling for one of the golden arrows from her quiver.

  Corinthius reached out his hand and lowered her bow.

  "We are not going in. I promise."

  Adalheid looked at him puzzled.

  "So, what is your plan?," she asked.

  "Because I am still half transformed I have Belovaya's dark magic still inside my veins. We are connected on some level by it. When I was dreaming in the oak tree she found me. Her coming close as I slept turned my dream in to a nightmare. I could see the cave to the Underworld and the roots of the tree were pulsating with blood. They were crushing and strangling the life force out of me."

  "Where are you going with this?," inquired Adalheid.

  Corinthius unsheathed his axe from its leather holder. He held the axe blade up against the dreamy morning light and could see how the man who previously owned it had kept it in tip top working condition.

  "The roots of the tree hold some power for her over our world here in Vasterium. Those roots go deep in to the earth and way down to her Underworld. That tree connects both worlds together and for me and her, I believe," explained Corinthius.

  Adalheid now fully understood what his intention was. Corinthius looked at the black night turning to a dense grey and the moon dying away for another night.

  "She's down there right now gathering up her energy and healing. If she comes back tomorrow night I'm not so sure she is going to be so lenient to you after what you have done."

  "Oh, charming. Blame me why don't you," said Adalheid in mock irritation.

  Corinthius cracked a wide smile.

  "Well, she's going to hate me even more than you when I do th
is. Here's hoping to this working."

  Corinthius then went to work with huge force swinging the sharp blade of his axe deep in to the trees exposed root system and hacked out as much of the bark at its base as he could. Deep inside the cave came wails and screams. Belovaya was crying out for Corinthius to stop.

  “Please! You don't know what you're doing, sweet Corinthius.”

  "This is for your own good, Belovaya," hollered Corinthius between each mighty hit of the yew's roots.

  With every strong swing of his blade the earth rumbled beneath his feet deep down in Belovaya's Underworld. With every blow he became more exhausted but kept at it until the magical tree, thousands of years old, shattered where the base was weak and then toppled heavily crashing over the mouth of the Underworld cave.

  Suddenly the earth rumbled and quaked violently and the rocky hillside shuddered and collapsed in on itself sealing up the entrance to Belovaya's refuge.

  Corinthius' work was done.

  Depleted of energy he lumbered towards a large boulder close by and he and Adalheid sat and watched the sun rise as it bled in to the sky like butter with all its glorious creamy yellows. They sat and held hands and Adalheid was concerned how worn out Corinthius looked. He began to feel a little unwell and Adalheid pulled out a flask of water for him to drink which he did greedily.

  “I think I went to work on that a little too enthusiastically,” he said with a weary smile. “I haven't felled a tree in almost a year. I'd forgotten that there is an art form to it.”

  Adalheid gave him a long hug and then helped him towards a large nearby willow tree and set him to rest under its shade as they listened to the birds fill the air with their morning song.

  Adalheid then went off and harvested breakfast from the hedgerows for them both but the feast she brought back for Corinthius was turned down. He didn't have a hunger for food only for sleep. She put her cloak over them both and then tucked herself in close to Corinthius holding on to him as they both fell in to a slumber.

  Chapter 9

  After a couple of hours dozing Adalheid was woken by the sound of marching feet and horses hooves in the gravel on the road at the edge of the Berring dells. Then the sound of horses feet thundered over the grass and she got up to peak through the willow fronds and saw it was the Royal army.

  The sky had turned leaden grey and the air had become chilly.

  Adalheid looked over to Corinthius who seemed to be having a bad dream, the beads of sweat trickling from his forehead and in to the sides of his hair. She woke him gently and he roused looking confused.

  “It's okay, Corinthius. Come on. It's time to go home.”

  “Home?,” he whispered weakly.

  Adalheid stroked his cheek and smiled. She was deeply concerned that he had lost a lot of energy felling the tree. But, now he looked so utterly vulnerable and lost. She stood to her feet and gave him her cloak to keep warm before stepping out from under the willow.

  The captain of the army caught sight of her and shouted for his men to stop and gather close by. He then alighted his horse.

  Corinthius wrapped the cloak tightly round his body and stepped out from under the willow tree in to full view of the men.

  The captain was awe struck by his appearance. His antlers so thick, and wide and majestic. Then he looked at Adalheid her face pinched with concern for the creature.

  “My Queen, we have been sent out to look for you. Nobody could find you this morning. The Kingdom has been in a merry dance over your whereabouts."

  Corinthius was stunned. He looked over to Adalheid.

  “My Queen?,” he said in a whisper.

  Corinthius stumbled and Adalheid stepped forward to steady him. She looked at the captain who was still staring wildly at this half creature, half man.

  “He felled the Berring dell yew, Orlando. It caused the entire hill to collapse over Belovaya. I don't think she will be causing any more problems in Vasterium but we need to get him back to the palace as quickly as possible. The felling has taking it right out of him. He's nothing else to give.”

  The other soldiers who were staring at him began to chatter amongst themselves impressed that someone had finally put a stop to Belovaya destroying the forest and killing men for the fun of it. She had ruled with darkness and caused much fear in the vicinity for thousands of years as did her father, Axelwane, before her. They looked at Corinthius with admiration. Poor, exhausted, pale, Corinthius, the saviour who freed Vasterium from a wicked impenetrable darkness.

  One of the soldiers turned his horse around and galloped off towards the hay wagon they had passed a mile or two before on the main road. The soldier directed the driver of the wagon back to the Berring dells.

  The small, wiry driver was astonished to lay eyes on his own Queen and a half man with antlers.

  “But what is this half-creature, my Queen?,” he said as he bowed to show his respect.

  “Please, don't call him a half-creature. His name is Corinthius.”

  The driver looked appalled that he may have caused any insult and apologised profusely for his bad manners.

  “It's alright. What is your name?” said Adalheid with a warm smile.

  The thin man held on to his tatty hat and bowed again.

  “It is Sanford, my Queen. Sanford Mills.”

  “Thank you, Sanford. Would you be so kind as to allow Corinthius and myself on your wagon and take us back to the palace. The army will escort you, if you would allow it?”

  Sanford's eyes grew wide like a child and a big grin cracked his weathered face exposing two teeth in his mouth.

  “Yes. It would be an honour. An absolute honour, I say.”

  With that he ran to his wagon and removed some of the hay to make the ride a comfortable one for his important passengers.

  “Just as well he said yes, really, isn't it? I wasn't in much mind to get my hands dirty this morning,” said Orlando leaning in to Adalheid.

  “Nonsense, Orlando. There are many ways of turning a situation in your favour without it becoming a conflict,” said Adalheid irritably. “Now, let's get Corinthius to the palace, shall we?”

  But, Corinthius couldn't move. He seemed to be rooted to the spot beneath him and he began to groan and clutched his stomach.

  “What is it, Corinthius?"

  Corinthius shook his head not able to find the right words to express the disturbing feelings and sensations that were happening inside his body.

  "I'll get the healer once we arrive at the palace," said Adalheid encouragingly. "You'll be warm, fed and looked after and you will heal. You will get better but you must go. NOW.”

  Corinthius gave her a look of absolute defeat and again he shook his head.

  Adalheid felt sick to her stomach. She tugged at his arm.

  “No, Corinthius. You're coming with me. I'll get you better, I promise.”

  Suddenly Corinthius gave out a terrible wail and he fell to his knees.

  “It feels like burning,” he screamed. "My arms, they feel like they are on fire.”

  He pulled his arm out of Adalheid's grasp and then held both of his arms out in front of him to study where the pain was.

  Then, to everybody's sickening horror his veins opened up and he began to bleed profusely.

  “What's happening to me?,” he cried.

  Adalheid pleaded with him to get to the wagon quickly. Then she turned to Orlando her eyes wide with terror.

  “Do something!,” she demanded.

  Orlando was speechless and felt helpless because he could offer nothing to resolve the problem. This was magic at its worst.

  Adalheid knew from the look in Orlando's eyes there was nothing to be done and she fell to her knees and held Corinthius' hand as tight as she could.

  “It was the roots of the tree, wasn't it?," said Corinthius mournfully. "They and I were connected somehow. She was screaming for me to stop but, I thought it was because she didn't want me to seal her in or weaken her magic. I got this all wrong did
n't I, Adalheid?”

  Adalheid began to cry and so did Corinthius but the tears he released left crimson track marks down his face. Blood then began to poor from his ears. Then another vein opened up in his neck and he fell to the ground choking and gurgling.

  Adalheid screamed and pleaded for some divine god or goddess to step in and stop it.

  Then Corinthius fell in to a deep calm barely breathing and Adalheid cradled him in her arms and covered his face in desperate kisses. He looked up in to her face and stroked her hair.

  “This is it, I can feel it," he said softly.

  Adalheid shook her head as if to rid the words he spoke out of her ears.

  "No, don't say that."

  "Promise me something, Adalheid,” he whispered.

  “Anything, my love. Anything.”

  “Promise me you won't seek revenge for this? She was trying to tell me not to do it. I didn't listen. This is my consequence.”

  Adalheid faltered and tried to change the subject.

  “No, Adalheid. Promise me.”

  Adalheid's eyes welled up and released a river of more tears.

  “I promise, Corinthius.”

  Corinthius' face relaxed in to a warm, gentle smile.

  “That's my girl. I'm so glad I knew you, if only for a brief moment in time.”

  Orlando told his men to face away and go to their horses and he wandered up to the driver of the hay wagon who looked on as grief stricken over the situation occurring as Adalheid did.

  “You have changed my life beyond all recognition and for the better, Corinthius, and for that I am grateful,” said Adalheid tenderly her voice quivering under the emotion.

  Corinthius smiled a long warm smile again and then something seemed to catch his notice.

  “Can you hear that?”

  Adalheid looked around listening for a sound, perhaps a chorus of birds in the hedgerows.